Together, We Map the Universe
by Fate's Company
Summary: A retelling of the first HTTYD movie, inspired by the Treasure Planet Universe. Chapter 2 of 11 is out. Chapter Excerpt: Both of them came from respected families, but Hiccup became the black sheep of his, while she was the sheep with golden fleece of hers.
1. Prologue: A Moment

**Prologue: A Moment That's Held In Your Arms**

The sun had already long disappeared below the horizon and in its place in the sky were the two moons, one smaller than the other; their lights slightly permeating through the clouds and space dust, casting a light glow over a town floating a few miles above the planet's seas. The street lamps were dim and one could barely see a foot in front of them as the nights were becoming longer. The winds were harsh and chilling; the sky continuously belting out snow leaving the ground covered in icy white powder. However, despite the harsh and bleak weather, loud voices and laughter could occasionally be heard from the streets, the sounds piercing the night and echoing through the spaces between buildings. Nature could be merciless, but it only made one stronger if one managed to live through it. Surviving harsh winters was not really a big deal anymore, at least not for the people of the spaceport town of Berk.

Berk had always been a stopover point for sailors crossing the Meridian of Misery. It was like a giant pile of rocks in space, between the other similar giant pile of rocks of the universe known as planets. Berk was around 12 light-years from Freezing and few parsecs away from Hopeless. Berk played an important part in the history of the universe being one of the first spaceports created for the Neo-Germanic Age. Countless men have passed through its streets, haggled in the shops, and many a ship have flown over its skies since intergalactic trade became the main industry of the Barbaric Galaxy.

Being a center of travel and trade, the town became a favorite target of space pirates. Raids have happened quite a few times before and the town would never come out unscathed. The town had many centuries old worn down paths, but they also had quite a number of buildings that looked newly constructed as the town had been forced to repair and rebuild many times. But, even with the constant attacks on the port town, the people still stayed, and business would continue as usual the next day.

For hundreds of years, the families that lived on Berk remained the same. Children inherited the skills and trade of their parents and lived to continue the line so that one day they may also pass their knowledge to next generation who would then pass it on to the next. The families had developed a simple system in order to mark their shops and properties so that despite the town's ever changing layout, one would still be able to easily find their way around. All the buildings in town were painted a certain set of colors while the shops carried signs with the same set of colors with an image on them which was the insignia of the family that owned the place.

If you have ever seen a building with red and yellow stripes or a sign bearing the image of a flaming creature with large horns, it surely must have belonged to someone from the Jorgenson clan. The Jorgenson clan was filled with rough and able-bodied men and so most of them worked and lived near the docks. The Jorgenson clan made up majority of the fishing association and could be said to have been more or less singlehandedly running the port. The Jorgenson men were often the hands and feet of a ship's crew. They were the deck hands that helped rig the ships when sailing, they took the ropes and helped haul in both their ships or perhaps another's when it was time to dock, and they also helped carry in the goods down to the port or even into town from the hull of the ships.

The Ingerman clan had buildings painted with triple stripes of orange-green-orange and an image of a large round creature with rock like bumps over their body was painted on their signs. Their shops and homes were often found along the borders, close to the forests and mountains surrounding the town where access to raw materials was easily found. The Ingerman clan were a clan of miners and ship builders and one could say that almost all of the ships in this side of the galaxy were designed and built by the Ingermans. The clan members had quite a passion for exploration that aside from building the ships, they also often took the role of navigator or historian whenever there was an expedition. The town library was filled with journals, books, and artifacts donated by Ingerman clan and if one wanted to find out anything about the history of anything or anyone, one only needed to approach an Ingerman.

The Thorston clan had members that were both the town bakers and innkeepers. The part of the building painted with green and yellow stripes were the bakeries, while the rest of the building where the rooms of the inn were sported stripes of yellow and black. Both sides would carry the same signs bearing the image of a double headed creature although each head was slightly different from the other. Any self-respecting local or traveller who would make claim to have ever set foot in the ports of Berk would know the taste of the Thorston clan's famous Yak Butter Parfait; however, rumor has it that there were those, the Jorgenson clan supposedly, who have incurred the wrath of the clan and denied the chance to ever do so. Some merchants claim that the clan members were still going through a long list of rare trading goods in order to appease.

The Hofferson clan could be clearly identified with their buildings beautifully decorated with waves of orange and blue. However, one should not judge this clan's personality based on their colors alone for if you looked at the image on their signs, you would clearly see a creature covered in deadly spikes. The Hoffersons were known for being fearless and fearsome. The name Hofferson was constantly splashed across the records of Berk's Viking Academy where people from across the galaxy came to train to become a part of the Hairy Hooligans, the Barbaric Galaxy's leading intergalactic fleet. Any ship from fleet could declare at least one Hofferson man among their ranks, and more often than not, these men eventually became captains of their ships. Many of the clansmen patrolled the stars, but recently, a lot of them have begun to choose to remained on Berk to patrol the streets as members of the fleet's ground unit, serving as the peacekeepers of town. Everyone, even those not from town, knew the rule - nobody messed with a Hofferson. Perhaps there may have been some who dared to, especially with the abundance of rowdy sailors in a port town as famous as Berk. Surely some men must not have known about the unspoken rule and have rose to the challenge to do so in the past, but no one has ever heard of such a tale so people just assumed that either nobody wanted to embarrass themselves further by retelling the tale, or nobody survived the experience to actually do so. The homes of the Hofferson clan were scattered across town with the main house positioned in the middle of town while some branch houses were strategically placed every few streets. Anybody who has ever come to Berk would have had to pass the main Hofferson home as the only road that connected the docks to town was right in front of the building.

The lively, loud and rambunctious docks that was usually swarming with sailors from different ports and the members of the different clans who worked there had finally settled down by this time of night and the only sounds coming from the docks were of the creaking of the ships docked in for the day. Both the locals and the travellers had cleared the streets to seek food, shelter and the warmth of their furs and fires to prepare for another surely busy day the next morning. Meanwhile on the outskirts of town, on top if a large hill that overlooked the whole town, was a large estate decked in colors of red and black whose gate bore the image of a dark, winged, mysterious creature. This home belong to the Haddock Clan from which the position of both the admiral of the fleet, and town mayor, was passed through the generations. Inside the huge home, was a small boy with short brown hair, a small pale scar on his chin, and the brightest emerald eyes anyone has ever seen. The young boy was running around his room, chasing a flying toy that was shaped similarly to creature on their gates. Looking around, the boy's room seemed to be filled and littered with weird contraptions, some of them even looking as if they had been taken apart and roughly put back together. The floor and walls were covered in sketches of flying creatures and things like ships, lamps, and what seemed to be designs for a child sized solar powered skateboard.

Behind the door to the room, from the staircase at the end of the hallway, the sound of footsteps could be heard slowly climbing up to the upper floor. The boy heard this, quickly grabbed his toy, and threw it under the covers of his bed. He grabbed the covers of his bed and struggled slightly to hoist himself up before finally climbing up. He continued to tug on the sheets that he was pulling on earlier and hastily climbed underneath them. The boy then closed his eyes as if asleep just in time as the door creaked open.

A large man with similarly colored eyes and hair stepped into the room and walked up next to bed and stared the boy down. Before the door closed behind the man, the boy could still hear the voices of men arguing downstairs, their voices carrying all the way to the room of the boy.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third", the man sternly called out, his mouth in a small frown hidden behind his braided beard, not believing the boy's act one bit.

The man's booming voice, so close to him, caused the boy to slightly wince revealing his state of wakefulness. The boy had warily opened one eye and smiled sheepishly at the big man whose large frame and stoic appearance greatly contrasted the atmosphere of the child's room.

"You should have been in bed hours ago." the man reprimanded the boy, giving him a look over before pulling up a thick blanket of fur from the foot of the bed and placing it over the boy, tucking the edges to his side.

"Sorry, dad." the small boy mumbled, his voice slightly muffled by the multiple layers on top of him with only his bright green eyes peeking from behind the too large covers.

"As long as you sleep. Now." gently ordered the large man as he moved away from the bed, careful not to step over the toys and drawings haphazardly strewn across the floor and headed towards the small fireplace located on the wall of the room.

The man crouched down to stoke the flames and added a couple more logs to the small fire so that it would keep through the night and keep the boy warm.

"Could you read to me the Book of Dragons?" the boy said asked as he pulled the covers down to his neck as the room warmed up a little more. The large man glanced at the boy as his lips drew into a tight line.

"Sorry, son. Truthfully, the council meeting isn't over yet. We're only taking a short break and have yet to decide how we're going to allocate the funds this winter." the large man said apologetically. "Can we do it some other time? Besides, you've read that book about a billion times by now. Surely you're already tired of it?" the man questioned as he stood up and brushed the front of his clothes and hands of soot.

The boy shook his head in disagreement and squirmed restlessly underneath the sheets as his father made his way back to the bed to kiss the boy's forehead to say good night.

"That's what you always say." the boy admonished, dodging his father's lips trying to delay the man longer. "I really like it when you read to me." urged the boy as he got out from under his covers and reached out to grab his father's tunic to prevent him from leaving.

"You sound really cool when you read to me." the boy praised and then mimicked his father's way of reading in a surprising similar manner as he acted out a scene, stretching his arms as if in flight, only to fall from his bed when he accidentally tripped on the toy that was hastily stuffed earlier.

The boy fell out of the bed with a loud thud and the father made a loud snort at the weird antics of his son. The man picked up the boy and placed him back on the bed after taking out the offending item and placed it inside a toy chest inside the room that was already overflowing with similar reptile looking toys. The boy made a pouting face at his father, making the most desperate face he could muster, and it pulled the man's heartstrings like a moon to a planet's orbit, unable to resist that look once it got there. The father begrudgingly motioned for the boy to scoot over as he sat on the bed, causing the boy to lean nearer to him because of the shift of angle he created on the bed because of his weight. The boy then grinned so large and so wide, it was like his small face couldn't contain his smile and it would burst like a supernova.

"Alright. Fine, fine." said the father to his son. "It's not like those folks will ever come to an agreement and I'll probably just have to put my foot down later." the man said lips twitching slightly at the ends into barely held smirk.

"Yes! Thank you, dad!" said the boy while reaching under his pillow where he seemed to have kept his precious book, the man shaking his head at his son's obsession. "Could you read it with that fake pirate accent?" asked the boy as his shoulders shook with excitement while he turned the pages, seemingly looking for a certain page. The father suddenly let out a guffaw.

"What do you mean fake, son? That's how pirates really sound like." the man said, his emerald eyes now twinkling, almost matching the young boy's. "Sure dad." the young boy said his voice with a hint of sarcasm. "Well, you've never met a pirate have you?" the man challenged raising an eyebrow at the boy. "And you have?" the boy teasing challenged back however the grin on the man's face fell and his eyes looked to window of the boy's room and out into the distance not really wanting to recall the memory of that fateful day a few years ago. The older man shook his head to clear his thoughts and cleared his throat.

"Well, should I read to you or not?" the man asked avoiding the question. "The night isn't getting any younger and I'm expected to return soon." he said taking the book and placing it on his lap. The young boy scooted closer to his father in anticipation and as the man began reading the boy's favorite book to him. Sometime later, the boy ended up slipping into sleep, as his father continued to read the book, and his dreams were once again filled of visions of himself on the back of creatures who flew across the galaxy towards an unknown planet.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

So, I finally finished the first chapter and the plans for my first fanfic after 10 years! I mean, I haven't written a fanfic in 10 years... Not that the planning took 10 years... Planning took about a bit more than week... ... ... ... Anyhoo! I hope that the story seems interesting enough. It is only a retelling of HTTYD1 and Treasure Planet with dabs of the TV Series in there though; not exactly very original in the plot department. I don't think I'm the first one to see the striking similarities of their stories and thought of something like this, but weirdly enough I haven't seen any other HTTYD-TP story retelling yet.

Anyways, a brief discussion of the plan. The plan is that the story will have 10 chapters total, this one being the first. I might combine or split some along the way, but so far according to my outline, the plan states there will be 10. After this set of chapters, there is also visions of a part two of this story for the retelling of the second movie, but that's something I only want to think about if and when I finish this one.

Also, I would just like to apologize in advance (or belatedly since you've suffered through the prologue already). I'm am admittedly not as good at punctuation marks and grammar as I hoped, so I hope you'll excuse me for that. I'm also not familiar with astronomy or mechanics, but I will try to do some research along the way.

And lastly: I'm **hatchethaddockhoneyhofferson** on Tumblr. :) Feel free to follow me. And don't forget to **review**.


	2. Chapter 1: To Change

**Chapter One: The World Wants Me To Change**

It was a normal, bright, and breezy summer day. The sun was out and almost at its highest point in the day, signaling that the day was just about to hit noon. The docks and nearby streets had been filling up since early in the morning and countless stalls had already been getting a number of returning customers. The town was glad for the unusually good atmospheric conditions and everyone thanked the gods that the ships would be sailing safely today.

The docks were full of noise and activity and the men could be seen lightly tussling with each other as a form of greeting while going about their work. Traders were happily showing off their wares while the women engaged in heated discussions with them regarding the latest galaxy trends and gossips. The children were running about along the streets, chasing one another in a game of hide-and-seek between large stacks of crates that lined the streets because of the amount of shipments today.

There were lots of people coming through the port as with any other day. A number of cadets bearing the uniform of the fleet could be seen patrolling through the streets, making sure nothing was amiss. It was part of the fleet's daily routine to divide the cadets so part of them would go about their rounds, while the rest continue on their training at Berk's Viking Academy, located a few miles from the docks.

The academy was a large dome, arena-like structure along the coast near the border of town. It had its own small port where a couple of the fleet's ships were docked for easy access, while the rest were marooned at the dock's warehouses. The entrance to the the academy was a large and high metallic gate that needed at least a couple of men to operate, intimidating outsiders from breaking and entering.

Inside, located in the heart of the Academy grounds, was a large dirt courtyard that everyone used for sparring and training. There were a few classrooms to the side, that followed the curve of the building, but they weren't currently being used as morning classes were usually dedicated to physical training.

On this auspicious day, the sounds of metal clinking against metal could be heard all over the academy as the trainees dueled against each other, while a few higher ranking officers who served as their teachers, barked out instructions at them as they saw fit. However, one lone student was not participating in the morning classes, his absence not unnoticed but purposely ignored.

This lone student was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of Stoick the Vast, the Hairy Hooligan fleet's admiral and the town mayor. However, despite his prestigious background with his family's contribution to history, the Haddocks being the founders of the academy, Hiccup didn't grow up to live up to his family name.

Hiccup didn't turn out to be as strong as his father, or as dashing as they imagined an admiral's young son would be. Hiccup grew up to be tall, scrawny - a boy with below average strength, but with an above average intellect that most considered as crazy considering his unhealthy obsession for inventing the oddest of things.

Inventing in itself, wasn't considered a bad thing for the Ingermans were known for their innovations in shipbuilding. However, at least the Ingermans merely improved on things, instead of perceiving a whole different product whose uses people weren't sure they needed. Hiccup would often be found neck deep in diagrams of things out of this universe like odd machines that served as multipurpose weaponry. It made even grown men uncomfortable as though being a port town introduced a lot of oddities, none reached the level of oddness of Hiccup.

Hiccup was also obsessed with impractical ideas like the wonders and mysteries of the world. He believed in the existence of dragons that they were somewhere out there in the unexplored areas of the universe. All of Berk's children had been entertained with the stories of dragons, but no one has ever seen one and everyone just wrote it off as an interesting myth.

Most children grew out of that phase, but Hiccup had never been like most children and continued to search for evidence that the legendary creatures did exist. He would often go off doing one thing or another, with the intent to chase after his elusive dreams. These activities often placed him in trouble, and the other academy students would be forced to deal with the mess he caused. This made the academy higher ups very disappointed with him, especially the leader of them all who just happened to be Hiccup's father.

Hiccup also grew up without ever getting rid of his awkwardness and clumsy feet. No matter how many drills they tried to expose him to, he could never seem to learn how to properly coordinate himself. It was probably by sheer luck that he had made it this far in life without accidentally killing himself by tripping on even roads. Hiccup couldn't even do well in the command classes. He excelled in general lessons, and in mechanics, but if it had to do with becoming admiral of the fleet, he seems to do complete opposite of excelling.

Hiccup was surprisingly stubborn with his own ways, which is the probably the only trait he shared in common with the rest of the town. Because of it, he found himself under detention and scrutiny whenever he would miraculously pass against the "Kill Ring", the Viking Academy's flight simulator. Hiccup had beaten even the most difficult level in the flight simulator that was purposely designed to make everyone lose so they could teach the students how to retreat from battle; and so he was accused of cheating. He received hours of lectures for not obeying standard protocols despite the fact that the tactics Hiccup had shown wrought better results.

Hiccup would have offered to leave the academy, just for the sake of everyone having a peace of mind, but sadly even that would be troubling. If Hiccup left the academy, the other students will probably feel safer if he didn't get in their way. If Hiccup left, he could do his own thing and the Academy could do theirs, but his father wouldn't allow him to "further taint the family history by being the first Haddock to fail the academy, the Haddocks themselves built".

Hiccup was obviously never going to become the next admiral of the fleet, and he hated his life at the academy, but he still wanted to contribute to society in his own way. He was not allowed to participate in town patrol, nor help out during the defense whenever pirates would come attack, but he could at least do the grittiest of tasks that no one wanted to do such as helping to maintain the armory by polishing and sharpening the weapons, or bringing them to be repaired by Gobber, the town's blacksmith.

Hiccup would go to Gobber's shop during classes at the academy, and Gobber would teach him how to fix and forge for the academy's highly abused arsenal, battered and broken from everyone's obsession with training and going up the naval ranks. It was a pretty good deal since Hiccup was practically Gobber's apprentice since he had known the boy since he was baby since Gobber was best friends Stoick, Hiccup's father.

Gobber had often watched over Hiccup and took him in whenever Stoick was out of town for business and out of everyone in town, the blacksmith had understood Hiccup the most and was well aware of the strained relationship between the boy and his father. Gobber often tried to act as the middle man to get the two Haddock men to communicate, but there hasn't been much improvement over the last few years. It was too bad, really. The father and son had, at least a decent relationship when Hiccup was small, but as the years carried on, their fragile relationship had continued to tear apart especially with the mounting stress that Hiccup might not be capable of becoming the next leader.

Hiccup still continued to develop new inventions secretly, as he already learnt by now that he should not show them to the townspeople until he was beyond sure they would work without burning another building. Hiccup would smelt the parts he needed in the forge when Gobber wasn't looking, and he would take the parts home to assemble them in the attic away from his father's eyes. Sometimes, he would also take them back to the academy so he could work on them during breaks at the old armory where they stored weapons they didn't need need anymore.

Since today was a great day for sparring, and Hiccup would be ignored since no one would pair up with him, and since he was purposely avoiding going to the blacksmith because that would mean he would be swamped fixing broken armory from the fights today; Hiccup decided to hide in the old armory where he was doing the finishing touches to his latest invention.

Hiccup was almost done tweaking his heavily modified solar surfboard and it only needed to be tested. This was an invention he had been working on since he was a kid when he accompanied his dad to inspect a ship. It was his vision to build his own means to go on adventures across the galaxy, but since that project required too much resources than what was on hand, he settled for developing a smaller version.

Now, all ships this day and age were equipped with solar powered sails. The ships used the solar power's heat to burn coals to create steam for the locomotive engine that will propel them. But Hiccup's new engine was completely different as it didn't rely on heat or steam. Hiccup had accidentally discovered that he could convert the solar energy into electrical power and so he developed a small inverter and an electric powered engine that would fit inside his surfboard. With this discovery, Hiccup was sure he could even beat the fleet's fastest ship, and couldn't wait to see the reaction of his father. Surely, this would be his ticket into finally earning the respect and approval of the town.

Hiccup was folding, and unfolding the solar panel sails checking its durability. After which he turned the board in his lap to double check the newest prototype electrical engine, making sure that the parts were properly connected. Meanwhile, he could hear the cries of the other academy students filtering through the small window located high on the walls of the old armory. He mostly ignored them until he heard a clear loud female voice shout, "Cadet Jorgenson. How many times do I have to tell you to focus! Do you want to get killed in battle? If that was your plan, would you like me to give you a head start?!"

Hiccup recognized that voice and quickly placed his surfboard down on the ground to climb over the crates so he could peer outside the window. The old armory was located on the ground floor of the academy as well as so he had to carefully peer over or else get caught if someone looked his way. He quickly scanned the students until he found the person whose voice he had heard belonged to.

The person who the voice belonged was a girl the same age as Hiccup, with golden blonde locks tied up into a long braid behind her back. She had clear blue eyes like the sky and a similar slim build. However, compared to Hiccup, the girl had toner and more firm muscles from extensive practice which allowed her to confidently wield the axe in her hand.

This girl was Astrid Hofferson - Lieutenant Astrid Hofferson. She was the only child and prized daughter of the Hofferson clan head and is the only one of their age group to have been promoted to that rank. She's the youngest Hofferson lieutenant in history, even surpassing the famous Captain Finn Hofferson who had become lieutenant at eighteen, and would have been the youngest lieutenant in the books if not for Hiccup's father holding that title at sixteen.

Lt. Hofferson was small and very feminine in appearance, but she couldn't be a better example for the phrase, "There is more than what meets the eye." She carried herself in such a manner that was so intimidating that even those of higher rank would avoid her in fear if they saw that she was in a foul mood. In the academy, she was known for her flexibility, and her quick and deadly speed. Most people who had faced her in battle barely had time to register what had happened before she struck like an angry Thor and his hammer.

It was an irony how both of them were brought up in such similar conditions, yet they couldn't be any more different than they were now. No one wanted to spar with Hiccup because he wasn't worth the time as he could barely handle even a shield. No one wanted to spar with Lt. Hofferson either for they didn't want to suffer a horrible beating. Both of them came from respected families, but Hiccup became the black sheep of his, while she was the sheep with golden fleece of hers.

Maybe that was why Hiccup felt so drawn to her, not only was she a divine beauty like her name suggested, but she was everything Hiccup wanted to be. The town had began to place their hopes and dreams onto the blond that she would become the next mayor and admiral in fleet once Hiccup showed no signs of improving in standing. Hiccup was happy to get out of the limelight and didn't even bear an ounce of resentment that the Hofferson girl proved better suited to his birthright than him. In fact, he would very willing to present it in a silver platter to her, if she would give him the time of day.

Hiccup was watching her spar Snotlout Jorgenson, son of the Jorgenson clan head, and Hiccup's idiotic cousin who was more muscle than brain like most of the Jorgenson men. Snotlout was the only one crazy enough to spar with the lieutenant as it was obvious that he too fancied her, not that she shared the sentiments with him or anyone else for that matter.

Snotlout could barely able to hold out on his own against the feisty Hofferson's attacks but he still smugly and openly flirted with her like he was calling for Valhalla's Valkyries to take him now. When the lieutenant had finally knocked Snotlout to the ground, she held her blade mere inches away from his skin and told him as she blew her bangs away from her face that if Snotlout further irked the lieutenant, she would not only make sure he was punished for showing disrespect to her superior, but she would punish him herself by chopping his short legs and any other sub-par body parts.

Even if Hiccup wasn't the one being threatened by the lady Hofferson, he too had to force himself to swallow a lump in his throat and couldn't help but feel pity for his stupid cousin. Hiccup quickly ducked as Lt. Hofferson had passed by under the window he was at, almost getting caught as the still high strung Hofferson girl glanced his way before resuming her march towards Commander Mulch, one of the officers in charge of training.

Lt. Astrid Hofferson had marched away to him and reported that she was now signing off for the morning after she returned her weapon to the storage. She saluted to the terrified officer, and he quickly dismissed her even if all the trainees were supposed to be dismissed at the same time, and she made her way inside the building.

Hiccup had heard her loud footsteps echoing in the corridor and was startled to notice that it was drawing closer to this armory, instead of the other one on the opposite end of the hallway. He quickly jumped down from the boxes, tripping on the way, before he pushed his surfboard out of sight. It seemed that luck was on his side again as the doors opened wide revealing a startled soldier who had struck a defensive position upon realizing there was someone inside.

"Hiccup? I mean, Cadet Haddock. What are you doing here?" Astrid inquired, eyeing him warily as she lowered her weapon.

"Err… S-salutations, lieutenant. I was merely… uhm… inspecting! Yes! I was inspecting the old armory! I thought it would be such a waste if we left these great weapons alone and so I came to do some m-maintenance." Hiccup fibbed as he scrambled to make a poor excuse of a salute.

Lt. Hofferson nodded her head although she had made no motions to dismiss him and had seemed to grow excited with his report, even if it was actually just an excuse. She started talking about how she was glad that she wasn't the only one who appreciated the older styled weapons and started a one sided discussion about how the battles were greater when they used to use axes instead of swords.

Hiccup could only nod anxiously, as he thought that he should have noticed that the lieutenant's weapon of choice was quite different from the usual training equipment. Axes were not often used as it seemed to be too violent a choice of weapon, and so they were stored in the old armory. Hiccup thought that the weapon matched the young lieutenant's courage and ferocity and made a mental note to never cross her when she was holding the said weapon.

The previously annoyed, but now seemingly placated girl ignored his discomfort as he was forced to continue standing at attention as she rambled on. Hiccup could only glance nervously to the side at his solar surfboard that was barely hidden behind the boxes. He started to make silent prayers when she started to walk to the crates near the entrance, digging through some of the crates for something.

He shut his eyes closed and waited for his life to end when the lieutenant gasped, but instead of the feeling the cold metal of a blade, he felt warm and soft, yet calloused and firm fingers grab onto his arm, pulling him towards a crate on the other side of the room from where he hastily pushed his surfboard to. He blinked in confusion although blushed heavily when he realized she was touching him. She hadn't properly dismissed him and dragged him over to a box containing a couple of rusty spiked pauldrons, and a short chain mail skirt with rows of dull spikes.

The lieutenant told him that these pieces of armor had called out to her while she was looking around, and asked that if Hiccup was going to be repairing some of the stuff in the old armory, if he could possibly fix those as well. The Hofferson argued that perhaps if she used them, she could use her influence to start a trend and the academy would rethink their proposition for a standardized full-body battle chain mail uniform. They were too heavy and would only weigh everyone down, especially someone with her build, she had said, and simple armor like this would suffice if the cadets had properly trained.

Hiccup could only nod at her enthusiasm and was coerced into promising that he would work on her requests when she had stared up at him with those blue eyes.

"Thanks a lot, Hiccup." Astrid had said, giving him a small yet firm nod of approval while brushing away her bangs, already having foregone the formalities. "I'll see you in a few days at Gobber's then, soldier?" she confirmed as she excused herself before leaving the armory, taking her axe with her.

"Err… yes, ma'am." Hiccup could only mumble to himself, still taken aback by what had happened. He had not only conversed with the famous lieutenant, but they had made a promise to do meet again soon. She had called him by his first name, twice, thanked him, and had also fondly called him soldier.

Hiccup stared at the items inside the crate, extremely grateful for once that he was a blacksmith, and started to make designs in his head for other modifications he can do to the armor that would please the lady lieutenant like perhaps skull shaped clasps. As he carried the crate out the room, he was considering if she would appreciate it if he added a headband to her arsenal seeming as her bangs bothered her. The lady Hofferson didn't seem to be fond of accessories as it only hindered her in battle, but if he perhaps made her a krasen styled headband, she would accept it.

Hiccup was entertaining these kind of thoughts as he headed towards the blacksmith, eager to start working on something that may win him some brownie points with the lady Hofferson that he completely forgot to lock the old armory and that he had also left his precious solar surfboard inside.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hello! Sorry it took so long to update! I'm a horrible writer who got stuck in the middle of writing the first/second chapter even if I already had an outline. It was like, I knew I had wanted Hiccup and Astrid to meet up, but I didn't deeply consider the circumstances. My outline only involves major plot points and not the little things so lots of changes happen.

I first wrote Hiccup as being in the forest, but then I wanted Astrid to be at the academy. I thought that it could be the forest behind the academy, but that wouldn't seem like a smooth transition for them to meet up.

There were other issues too regarding the existence of dragons. I couldn't decide whether I wanted them as part of history, or as a legend. Good thing I hadn't decided on that yet in the prologue or else I would have had to redo it since I have to let everything fall into place inside my head so that it would make sense in future chapters.

This chapter was supposed to go on a little bit longer, until the point where Hiccup first meets Toothless, but the page count is already up to 9 pages on Google Docs so I'm splitting the chapter. I honestly haven't started on the second part though. Sorry!

But even though I haven't written anything for chapter two/three, this chapter is part of a double update, the other one for my other series which is a fluff drabble series featuring Hiccstrid. The title is, "_Sweet Thorns_", and you can find it if you go to my profile. There's also the one-shot Hiccstrid drabble that I forgot to post to called "_Used to This_", which was inspired by the original plans for one of the stories in Sweet Thorns.

Yes. I'm shameless plugging my stories. Truthfully, it's because I want reviews. Not for the review count, but I'm seriously hoping for some constructive criticism regarding my writing here. It's not my dream to be a writer or anything, but I hope to better myself so my stories will be a bit more enjoyable to read.

So please **review**! Please give me constructive criticisms! And follow me on Tumblr if you want hatchethaddockhoneyhofferson. I'm open to requests although I'm not sure if I'm good enough to handle them. Spread the HTTYD/Hiccstrid luv~ 3


End file.
